Kids arriving in hospitals with hand, foot & mouth disease symptoms

Jaipur: Hospitals are getting a sporadic flow of children seeking treatment for lesions and ulcers in hands, feet and mouth, which are symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). JK Lon Hospital has claimed that it has been getting such cases regularly for the past few days, which are neither chickenpox nor tomato flu. The hospital pointed out that such children do not require admission and they recover in 8-10 days.

At a time when the health department has already issued guidelines on tomato flu, cases of HFMD have put hospital authorities on alert.

"We are receiving sporadic cases of HFMD over the past few days and they are coming with blister-like lesions in the mouth and rash on the palms and soles. We have not seen such cases earlier in the past," said Dr Ashok Gupta, head of the department (paediatrics), JK Lon Hospital.

Most of them are under 10 years and they also come with a fever.

However, hospital authorities pointed out that such cases do not require hospitalisation as they recover in 8-10 days.

Doctors are advising the children suffering from HFMD to get the treatment under home isolation as it is a contagious disease and could spread to other healthy children if they come into contact with them.

Dr Gupta said, "In tomato flu, the blisters are biggish in size and they are more red. In these cases reported at our hospital, the cases of HFMD do not look like cases of tomato flu clinically."

The health department has also clarified that not a single case of tomato flu has been reported in the state and also no case of monkeypox has been reported either.

Recently, the health department issued guidelines on tomato fever across the state for preventing its spread and treatment.

In some states, cases of tomato fever have been reported, due to which, the health department has also issued directions to doctors to identify suspected cases of tomato fever in the state for timely diagnosis and early treatment.